Tag: FOSSi

News and updates on developments at AB Open.

Getting Started with the HiFive Unleashed

Creating a new bootable Micro SD card, building a custom Poky Linux system, and running Debian on the world’s first RISC-V-based, Linux-capable development board. The HiFive Unleashed was unveiled back at FOSDEM only a matter of months ago and so, unsurprisingly, it’s still relatively early days for Linux… Read More

CRU: HiFive Expansion, Computer Vision, Osmocom, and More

AB Open and its hardware division Ground Electronics have launch a campaign for Circumference, a family of custom-designed desktop cluster computing units based around the popular Raspberry Pi and UDOO x86 single-board computer families. Available to pre-order now on crowdfunding site Crowd Supply, the Circumference C25 boasts support for… Read More

HiFive Unleashed Gets Packed PolarFire Powered Expansion

World’s first Linux-capable RISC-V development board benefits from expansion that adds PCIe, M.2 SSD, SATA, HDMI, a 300K element PolarFire FPGA, and more. Launched back in February at FOSDEM the HiFive Unleashed RISC-V development board boasts a 64-bit Freedom U540 SoC with features that include a 4+1 Multi-Core Coherent… Read More

OnChip Announces New 32-bit RISC-V Microcontroller

Colombia-based semiconductor specialist OnChip has announced a 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller design aimed at low-power sensor applications, developed in partnership with SiFive. Fresh from announcing the next generation of Itsy-Chipsy, the company’s low-quantity semiconductor fabrication platform which aims to allow the creation of single-unit DIP-packaged chips for around $100, OnChip… Read More

PULP Open Silicon Project Celebrates its Fifth Birthday

The Parallel Ultra-Low Power (PULP) Project has celebrated its fifth birthday with a retrospective, discussing the progress made since its inception during a meeting at the University of Bologna in May 2013. “It has been exactly 5 years since Luca Benini started the PULP (Parallel Ultra Low Power) project in… Read More

CRU: Homebrew Silicon, OSHCamp 2018, eSIMs Delayed, and More

The cause of truly home-made semiconductors hit a major milestone late last month when engineer Sam Zeloof became, to common knowledge, the first person to successfully create an integrated circuit using a fully photolithographic process in a home lab, building a dual differential amplifier using entirely homebrew equipment. Hobbyists around… Read More

Sam Zeloof Creates First Fully Photolithographic Homebrew IC

Engineer Sam Zeloof has become, to common knowledge, the first person to successfully create an integrated circuit using a fully photolithographic process in a home lab, building a dual differential amplifier using entirely homebrew equipment. Hobbyists around the world have been making discrete circuits at home for years, but integrated… Read More

OnChip Unveils Itsy-Chipsy Ultra-Low-Cost IC Fabrication Platform

Colombia-based OnChip has unveiled an open-source platform which aims to do for custom semiconductor creation what services like OSH Park have done for circuit boards: Itsy-Chipsy. “Chip prototyping used to be prohibitive for small start-ups and academy until services like MOSIS brought down prices to few thousands dollars per mm²… Read More

OSHCamp 2018 Schedule Finalised and Registration Opened Up

The Open Source Hardware User Group (OSHUG) has announced the schedule for OSHCamp 2018, to take place in Lincoln’s The Blue Room on the 30th of June and 1st July. Announced via a call for participation back in January, the Open Source Hardware Camp (OSHCamp) 2018 is to take… Read More

CRU: Neural Networks, Open Baseband, RISC-V, and More

It’s been a strong fortnight for machine intelligence fans, starting with Arm’s Robert Elliot and Mark O’Conner publishing a white paper on the company’s Arm NN machine learning platform and its optimisations for use on low-power embedded devices. “We expect machine learning to become a natural part of programming environments,… Read More

SeL4 Microkernel v9.0.1 Ported to RISC-V

The open-source seL4 microkernel, the first general-purpose kernel to have been proven to-spec using formal verification methods, has been ported to the open RISC-V instruction set architecture – though its creators warn it’s in a very early, limited form. Originally developed by Australia’s National Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research… Read More

Rambus Announces RISC-V CryptoManager Security Core

Rambus has become the latest company to adopt the open RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA), using its openness as the basis for a new embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) security core dubbed the CryptoManager Root of Trust. “The fundamental pillars of architectural design freedom, secure processing siloed away from… Read More